Malke,
Thanks for that extra.
I will think about doing the diags myself as I should be able to. It
is about 5 years old so well out of warranty!
I am puzzeled a) why it worked after the memory was knocked down (from
1Gb) to around 250mb and b) why it worked still when I started it
after putting in the 2Gb?
I had it running with no problem for around 36 hours (it is usually on
24/7) and the only reason for rebooting it then was needing to after
running 'housekeeping'. Also Outlook Express kept locking up, But
otherwise everything was running great and even a bit faster with 2Gb
instead of just 1Gb,
It runs OK in Safe Mode with Networking except of course I can only do
basic email and web browsing.
Thanks again
Nigel
P.S. Am I right about holding Control down to prevent drivers from
loading?
On 31 Jul, 13:20, Malke <ma...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Nigel Andrews wrote:
> > Malke,
>
> > I am sorry for my slow reply, but the problem extended to a point I
> > thought I had it fixed. The BIOS reported it had reduced the memory!
> > So I diagnosed failed memory, bought more memory and replaced it and
> > it booted O.K.
> > The computer has run continuously for 2 days BUT.
>
> > I needed to reboot after doing various 'housekeeping' jobs and I am
> > back to the 'black screen on boot' again!
>
> > I have installed some MS updates since I added the memory, the same
> > ones that I installed before the last event. But I have now restored
> > back to before the first occurence of the problem, run CHKDSK /F and
> > still no change. Checked Event Viewer and there are no errors which
> > are not just related to running in Safe Mode and nothing coincident
> > with the time of any Normal start attempt (in fact I don't think it
> > gets as far as that)
> > It boots in Safe Mode OK (tho' when I first tried I logged in as Admin
> > and it seemed to stall) along 'with Networking' I can access the Net,
> > so it can't be too bad.
> > Trying to boot in Normal mode the scrolling 'train' seems to disappear
> > very early and I can't then detect any disk activity afterwards.
> > I have tried holding down the control key at boot, which I believe
> > should stop drivers loading, but no change.
>
> Sounds like hardware failure. Either do the hardware troubleshooting
> yourself or take the machine to a competent local computer professional. I
> don't recommend using a Big ComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. If the
> computer is still under warranty and is OEM, contact the OEM's tech support
> for repair/replacement.
>
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...ardware_Tshoot
>
> If you do the troubleshooting yourself, start by uninstalling the video card
> and trying a known-working one as I previously suggested.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ -http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -